As a young man trying to become a better writer, I’ve received many bits of advice from people along the way: “Don’t be afraid to create, because there is no wrong in creativity.” “Writing is all about the process, not the product.” “You...

Last year I made an unusual pilgrimage. I flew from Chicago to New York, took the train from Penn Station to Princeton Junction, and walked to a seemingly mundane destination: an inconspicuous reading room in the Firestone Library at Princeton University.
I...

We are living in an age where female friendship is “in” – between Taylor Swift’s squad of celebrity gal pals and Lena Dunham’s acclaimed TV show “Girls,” to the legions of Millennial women who idolized four fabulous friends on “Sex &...

The act of writing fiction is essentially an act of creation. When putting together a novel, the novelist must create peoples and places, bring them to life in a story, and portray them with vivid detail that makes the story come alive for the reader....

The creative processes of literary writing and songwriting have always been intertwined. Musicians such as Bob Dylan and Patti Smith have successfully crossed over into the literary realm, winning awards and critical praise for their poetry and autobiographies....

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is a complicated woman, no matter how you slice it. She’s been painted as both the hawkish wife who is the downfall of her husband and the thwarted creative spirit; both the inspiration for the Eagles’ “Witchy Woman” and a victim...

American literature and I have had a rocky relationship, and I hope you’ll bear with me as I tell you about it. I’ll admit, I am more likely to turn to British or Russian fiction when I have the time to read for pleasure. The first Steinbeck I ever...

Grammar rules rule—or do they? They certainly did in my day. As a grade school student many decades ago, I would anxiously approach the blackboard when called upon to diagram sentences. The challenge back then was analogous to completing a crossword...

Virginia - Lie Down in Darkness by William Styron (1951)
Published when he was just 26 years old, William Styron’s first novel immediately launched him to literary fame, receiving extremely enthusiastic reviews. Following the dysfunctional Loftis...

In the pantheon of great American writers, Ernest Hemingway is probably the only one whose life was more exciting than his writing.
Hemingway saw World War I as an enlisted ambulance driver. He covered the Spanish Civil War, the European theater in World...